Mary E. Flowers

Mary E. Flowers (born July 31, 1951) is a Democratic member of the Illinois House of Representatives. Representative Flowers is the longest serving African-American legislator in Illinois history. She represented the 31st district from January 9, 1985 to January 13, 1993, represented the 21st district from January 13, 1993 to January 8, 2003, and represents the 31st district again since January 8, 2003.

Early life and education
Flowers was born on July 31, 1951, in Inverness, Mississippi. Her family moved to Chicago when she was a child. She attended local schools in Chicago, Kennedy King Community College and the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Political career
Mary Flowers was first elected to the 84th General Assembly as a Democrat from the 31st district in 1985. She is currently serving her 19th term as a member of the Illinois House of Representatives and served as a House Deputy Majority Leader for the 102nd General Assembly.

In May 2023, Flowers was removed from her leadership position in the General Assembly by Illinois House Speaker Chris Welch, allegedly for using a slur and saying that a House staffer resembled Adolf Hitler. Flowers replied that the Speaker had taken her remarks out of context. In 2024, Welch directed more than $1.6 million in campaign contributions to Flowers' challenger in the 2024 Democratic primary. Crawford ultimately defeated Flowers in the primary.

At the conclusion of the current legislative session in January 2025, Flowers will have served forty years in the Illinois House of Representatives--the longest tenure of any woman to serve in the history of the Illinois General Assembly.

Committees
During her tenure in the Illinois House of Representatives, Flowers has served on several different committees covering a range of topics and issues in the House of Representatives. Below is a list of her current and historical committee assignments.

As of 2024, Flowers has no committee assignments.

Legislation
Flowers' primary legislative focus has been on health and child welfare matters. She has been the principal sponsor of legislation related to medical patients rights, medical managed care reform, health insurance reforms, hospital and nursing home staffing standards, licensure of direct-entry midwives, adverse health event reporting, health facility regulatory reform, medical and dental practice reforms, and public health/communicable disease control.

Flowers has been the primary sponsor of several bills that became law, including the following list:

Representative Flowers supports universal health care, and has repeatedly filed related legislation and conducted public hearings to promote such reforms throughout her legislative career – House Bill 311, The Illinois Universal Health Care Act – of the 97th General Assembly is the primary model.

Flowers has emphasized the safety of children in substitute care within the child welfare system regulated and administered by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, an agency and system that has experienced repeated tragedies and the subject of continuous judicial oversight.

Flowers has received awards during her tenure, including 1993 "Legislator of the Year" award from Illinois Alcoholism and Drug Dependence Association, which is now the Illinois Association for Behavioral Health Care.

Personal life
Flowers was married to Daniel Coutee; the couple have one daughter, Makeda. Coutee died in September 2019. Flowers also has two grandchildren.